A nursery near our home grows a very peculiar crop. Each time it is harvested, I wish my camera was with me. A few days ago, guess what? My camera was with me! One of the photos I took depicts the essence of symmetry… or does it??? ( Something doesn’t belong there…)
This is Curly Willow… I have no idea what it’s used for. But there must be a good market because the willows have been harvested, regrown, and harvested dozens of times.
Love the wilows Jane – actually have a dozen of them in a primary focus point in my home. The stacks remind me of the barley stacks we saw in China. Symmetry the world over!
I have learned a lot from this post! From stick furniture willows grown here and in Australia and now on to barley stacks in China! 😉
Jane, I bet these are used in making twig furniture. It is very popular today. Is this somewhere around Cornelius?
Ron
Ron- that makes perfect sense. The size of the sticks would fit with you suggestion. Yes! This crop in on the way to Cornelius when traveling by back roads from Hillsboro to Cornelius. You know this area well! Good eye 🙂
Found an ad that mentions Curly Willow!
https://justanothernatureenthusiast.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/curly-willow-furniture_pdf.pdf
What we call ‘tortured willow’ is also used for floral art here. I decided to search to see if your curly willow is the same species (it appears to be), and came across this article. I just had to share it with you, Jane 🙂 http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&state=&s=&ibra=all&card=T31
One man’s crop…
another man’s weeds!
Your article gives perspective about how we think about plants can depend on where you live!
Thanks for the interesting link, Ken 🙂
Your thoughts and comment from Ron took me back to Google. I captured this from a site that makes stick furniture… he mentions Australian Willow and Curly Willow!!! Imagine that 😉
https://justanothernatureenthusiast.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/curly-willow-furniture_pdf.pdf
Hi Jane, The smaller curly willow branches are popular for use in floral arrangements and home decor….however, these look BIG. Interesting, and I think yes, for the symmetry challenge 🙂
Size is the thing that puzzles me, as well. The grower waits until the plants reach just that size and then the workers come in and neatly bundle the branches in the manner pictured. An interesting process… but, yes, seemingly too big for floral arrangements and home decor!
(BTW- the thing that doesn’t be long is that soda bottle tucked in the bundled stack on the right!)